SCA practice case · Telephone consultation
“Right iliac fossa pain”
Telephone consultation
Adult patient
Hard
Urgent & unscheduled careGender, reproductive & sexual health
The candidate brief
This is what you would read in the 3-minute window before the patient connects. Read it once, note two or three hypotheses and one thing you must not miss, then stop.
Patient
Layla Ahmed · 28 years · female
Setting
Telephone triage — patient called surgery 30 minutes ago.
Past history
- Chlamydia infection age 19 — treated
- Laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy age 23
Medication
- No regular medication
- Stopped combined oral contraceptive 4 months ago
Allergies
NKDA
Recent notes
⚠ Receptionist note (30 min ago): "Right-sided lower tummy pain since this morning, sounds very uncomfortable — booked to duty GP telephone triage."
Reason for contact
Telephone triage — acute abdominal pain.
Practise this case
The full case is in the Hot Seat with the Gold plan. You get a 12-minute timer, a role-player script with facts released only when asked, examiner checkpoints by the three RCGP domains, a model consultation and the guidance behind it.
What this case tests
Show the learning points (spoiler: read after you have practised)
Any woman of reproductive age with abdominal pain has an ectopic until proven otherwise — LMP, contraception, sexual activity. Shoulder-tip pain and orthostatic symptoms shift the probability sharply. EPAU is the destination, not a routine GP review. The emotional layer here — "we've been trying" — is the marking difference between Pass and Clear pass.
The guidance behind it
Similar SCA cases
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